In U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,488, a quick-connect fast-inflate dunnage bag pneumatic valve provides for opening of a dunnage bag valve and filling of the dunnage bag quickly from a high pressure pneumatic source. The mechanism and construction of that novel valve is closely related to this invention, but that valve was limited in operation to the filling of the dunnage bags.
During unloading of cargo protected by filled dunnage bags, the bags take so long to deflate by their self-contained valves that the deflation time is not economically feasible. Thus, the bags, which are costly, are slit with a knife and destroyed to rapidly discharge the cargo.
This invention therefore has the primary objective of providing a tool that can rapidly deflate the dunnage bags and thus re-use them.